Cirque Du Faeries (EDITING FROM ORIGINAL!)
by cryingmarshmallo
Summary: Gajeel Redfox was not very sure of what to expect when he signed up for the famous Cirque Du Faeries, but dangerous enemies, reckless friends and a certain blue haired acrobat who seemed to be fond on ditching parties certainly wasn't it. But then again, beast taming isn't the most conventional job either. 1940s circus au, also known as my excuse to write Gajeel on suspenders.
1. Alegría

Everyone in the room held their breath. Children leaned in towards their parents, asking in whispering voices what was going on. The adults replied by hushing them silent, not taking their eyes from where the ring had been located just mere seconds prior, before the lights were turned off and the crowd was left in complete darkness.

_Alegría_.

A single light fell over the figure of a short man standing on the middle of the ring. His costume was bright and colorful, a bright red top hat decorating his head, and his gloves hands rested on a baton.

The ringmaster.

_Alegría._

The show starts up with three dancers, entering the enormous striped circus tent as they stood on respective pink dyed horses, dancing on top of them and making the glitter on their costumes sparkle and the crowd clap appreciatively.

Two clowns make their way inside, stealing smiles from the children as they fell over repeatedly due to their oversized clothes and flirted with the dancers, who payed them no mind.

_Alegría._

The laughs soon turned into gasps and squeals, as a shirtless man entered, doing somersaults and holding in his hands two flaming torches. He danced recklessly around the edges of the ring, making the crowd stand to get a better look.

After his number came the strongman, starting from holding up weights, to having the three dancers and one of the horses stand on his shoulders, seemingly without breaking a sweat. He let them back into the ground and roared, the crowd roaring along with him.

_Alegría._

People held their breaths both during the throwing knives number and the escapology number, after which they had to be reassured by the ringmaster they the performers were indeed okay, which earned them another round of applause.

A magician stepped in, a mischievous glint on his eyes as he opened his jacket and five doves flew out from it, making the younger ones gasp, as he proceeded to ask for a volunteer.

_Alegría._

A young lady seemed to fly through the air as she performed on the aerial silks and the trapezes, only touching the ground to bow down to the crowd.

Finally, the ringmaster came out again, a big smile on his face which was mimicked on the performers'.

A man behind the ring watched silently as the show finished, with a pleased smile and a warm feeling on his chest he had not felt in a very long time. He chuckled to himself, fixed his suspenders and ran a hand trough his long hair, and made his way out of the tent.

_So that's what it felt like_.

**I'm back! Not exactly with a new story, but instead I will be editing old chapters and updating new ones here! My old archive for CDF will be deleted in a few days, but everything will be reuploaded here once it's proofreaded and edited properly. Thank you for your patience and understanding, and for those of you who are new to my story, don't forget to fave, follow and review! Mwaaah.**


	2. When It's Sleepytime Down South

Magnolia was a big city.

For some, it was home. For others, it was just another stop on the way. For most, it was a chance to get in the spotlight.

Gajeel thought about this as he made his way towards one of the wagons, also known as "The Swiggers Wagon", also known as Cana Alberona's territory.

The Cirque Du Faeries had quite the reputation for their aftershow parties, considered to be some of the best and, no matter where they were, they would eventually escalate into a massive brawl.

It was a rather warm night, so Gajeel didn't mind the outdoor scenery. They had set up some chairs and tables, and one of the walls of the trailer had been removed to give the impression of a bar. He noticed most of his workmates (or as he preferred to call them, "freakshows" were already there, most of them out of their costumes, although he could spot a couple feathered dancers and a certain fire tamer seemed to be still very much in character. He decided to give the former some crap for it free a couple drinks, if Gray didn't beat him to it.

"Gajeel, my sheik!" He heard an already familiar voice and he turned back towards the bar, where a brunette woman with a cigarette holder in one hand and a glass of something on the other, was waving him down.

"Everyone is your 'sheik', Alberona. You stop callin' me that." The woman merely laughed and poured him a drink.

"What a show tonight, huh? Gramps sure outdid himself with this one." The man simply grunted his approval and sat on a stool, chugging his drink and turning towards the rest of the crew. Apparently Natsu, in all of his post performance cockiness, had just challenged Bixlow to a drinking contest. The latter just laughed, throwing his head back and sticking his tattooed tongue out at the fire dancer.

His attention drifted to a group of what he recognized as some of the dancers. They had changed from their costumes into something more fitting for the occasion, whoch consisted mostly in low cut dresses and waist hugging belts. The outfits didn't really interest Gajeel. After all, he believed they looked far more revealing in their circus costumes. Even so, one in particular seemed to catch his eye.

They had never talked. In fact, she hadn't spared him more than a glance since he was introduced into the circus's crew a month ago. Or at least, so he thought. She didn't have a reason to either, since their numbers weren't very similar, but apparently, the Faeries we all friends with each other, so he wondered why the blue haired beauty hadn't approached him yet like most of the crew had.

_Perhaps__ she's shy?_, he wondered.

She intrigued him, to say the least. He had observed her aerial routine with the eye of an expert, guessing her petite figure and extreme flexibility helped her control the gravity of her body at will. But this wasn't all that grabbed his attention. He wasn't sure if it was her porcelain like skin, or her azure locks, or the rosy tone of her cheeks after performing her routine, but something about her had him making more than one double take he definitely wouldn't have done if it had been for her blonde friend, or one of the Strauss sisters.

He was he halfway down his third drink of the night, when his back was suddenly pounded and he was forced to spill it all out.

"What's good, Gajeel?" Natsu asked, his hand resting on his partner's shoulders.

"Do you wish to die tonight, Salamander?" Gajeel growled deeply, shooting Natsu with his crimson glare.

The fire dancer either didn't notice, or was already to drunk to care.

"C'mon, don't be like that. I just came to tell you that me and the others are ready for another chug-a-lug contest, I figured you'd like to partake, instead of sitting over here all on your own and looking like a sulking monkey."

"I don't... I'm not all on my own." Gajeel looked to his side, revealing that Cana had actually left him and was currently busy drinking Laxus under the table. "Damn woman." He mumbled before turning to the pink haired man.

He was already standing and tugging on his sleeve to follow him, so Gajeel went, not without making his annoyed state known.

It wasn't as if he didn't want to have a drinking competition with the 'gang', as Natsu had put it. It was just that, if his calculations were correct, _she_ was part of the gang.

As they neared the table they were all gathered around, Gajeel noticed most of the noise from the party was coming from the rowdy group of friends, currently laughing and yelling at each other for an unknown reason. Gajeel could only sigh.

"Hey Natsu, we sent you over to fetch us more booze, not another competitor." Erza complained, rolling her eyes and sitting down next to Jellal, who for some reason hadn't yet disappeared into hell knows where, as he usually did after shows.

"Drinking is manly!" Elfman roared as he lifted one of the benches, people sitting on top included.

"Yeah, big guy. Now let us all down slowly, please." Gray sweatdropped.

Gajeel sighed again. What had he gotten himself into...

"I don't believe we've been introduced yet." He heard an unfamiliar voice to his left so he turned, and his heart did a somersault he wasn't sure the rest of his body could perform without seriously injuring himself.

She was standing before him, drink in hand, red lipstick tinting her lips and contrasting deliciously with her pale skin and blue hair.

"I- not really. I'm Gajeel." He said, holding his hand out for her to take and hoping he didn't sound as stupid as he felt. _What's wrong with you? She's just a shrimp_, he scolded himself.

"I know. My name is Levy." She answered with a smile and stretched his hand.

_Levy_.

He wasn't very sure of what to say, since he usually didn't get this far, so he just added,

"Great performance today."

It seemed to be the right thing to say, since her eyes lit up and her smile could have outshined the sun.

"Thank you. I was a tad bit nervous, being my first time performing here at home, you know. A lot of people I knew were on the crowd today."

So she was from Magnolia. That was interesting.

He was about to add something when Natsu stumbled in, face redder than he was before carrying at least six mugs of beer in his arms, although half was already spilled out. Before Gajeel could turn back to Levy, he was tugged into the middle of the competition along with Gray, Elfman and a bunch of other guys.

_Oh_ _well_, he mused. _Might as well make it count._

Levy sighed a bit when his companion was pulled away from her, and she turned to Lucy, who was standing a bit to the side.

"So you've met the sheik, huh?" The blonde asked, wiggling her eyebrows at her friend. Levy blushed and hid her face in her hair.

"Lucy! Don't sprak like that!"

"Oh, c'mon. You can't say he's not attractive. I mean, look at _that_." She said, pointing with her drink towards Gajeel, who was currently rolling the sleeves of his white cotton shirt up to his elbows, giving the ladies a good look of his tanned and slightly scarred forearms. "You cannot."

"Lucy, I literally just met him tonight." The bluenette stated, starting to get slightly irritated with her friend.

"But you've been ogling him ever since he joined the crew last month."

"Lucy!" She squealed.

The aformentioned blonde just laughed harder at her friend's annoyance.

"Good evening, girls." They heard a voice at their back, and they turned around to face the redhead who had adressed them. Apparently, she had ditched the loud group of men and instead decided to hang out with her fellow females.

"Erza!" Lucy exclaimed, placing her drink on a nearby table. "You're just in time. I'm trying to make Levy admit she has a crush."

"Oh? Levy has a crush? On who?" The older woman inquired, to Levy's embarrasment.

"No one! I don't have a silly crush!" The petite girl was nearly fuming now. Why couldn't her friends just leave her be? So what if she thought the new guy was attractive? It's not like she knew anything but his name anyways.

"C'mon Levy, don't be shy…" Luy started pushing her gently towards the group, who was getting drunker by the minute.

"Hey Lucy!"

The blonde's mission was rudely interrupted by a pink furball which suddenly jumped in her way. He had left his shirt somewhere along the way (probably in a fight with Gray), but somehow managed to keep his trademark scarf securely wrapped around his neck.

"Natsu, not now. Can't you see I'm busy?" Lucy huffed, but Levy could tell she didn't really mind stopping to chat with the man.

"But I gotta tell you something important." He whined, making Levy giggle softly.

"No offense, but you're more than just a little buzzed, so if it really is that important, you should at least wait 'till you're sober again."

Natsu's face turned serious so suddenly, Levy was actually a tad bit concerned something might actually be wrong.

"Lucy," he sarted, grabbing her shoulders and making the blonde release her friend's. "You must know that I..."

"You what?" Lucy urged him after his pause, clearly getting more impatient and fidgety with every passing second.

"I think you are…" Before he could finish, the poor fella's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell over, right on top of the busty blonde. She squealed, doing her best to hold him and not let him fall over to the ground.

"Natsu!" She groaned in annoyance, her legs quivering a little under the newly added weight.

Levy saw her chance and took it, deciding to ditch already and call it a night. She retrieved to the wagon she shared with some of the girls, which unconveniently for her high heel clad feet, was placed on the other side of the makeshift camp. As she made her way, she noticed Natsu wasn't the only one who would suffer from a killer hangover the next morning, as Bixlow was lights out cold on the ground as well, Lisanna Strauss trying (and failing quite miserably) to bring the big man back to consciousness as she repeatedly called his name and poured glasses of cold water on his face.

The bluenette sighed. It looked like the poor girl still had a long night ahead of her.

As Levy stepped into the trailer, she took off her heels and made a beeline to the little space under one of the bottom bunks, where she kept her scarse luggage. Quickly changing into a light nightshirt, she went over the recent evening on her mind.

It had been the first time Levy performed in front of such a big crowd, even tough she had been part of the circus since she was very young. She had toroughly rehearsed every little movement, every intake of breath had been calculated previously, multiple times. Aerial silks were indeed a very dangerous skill, a little mistake, even if it was by an inch, could end in a very serious injury. Before joining the faeries, Levy had heard plenty of horrible stories of accidents involving very talented gymnasts, where trivial errors met a fatal end.

But then again, the Cirque Du Faeries was known for its reckless and daredevil members, so if what she wanted was safety, she should have just stayed home.

After she finished her performance and finally touched the ground, the claps and cheers from the public had left her breathless, feeling as if it was the proudest moment of her career. The Master had given her the brightest smile she had ever seen coming from the old man, and that was indeed saying something.

Then came the party. Lucy and the girls swarmed around her, squealing their congratulations over and over, Levy making her best to return them as well as she could.

She had then changed into her favourite night dress, black with a sweetheart neckline, its shape hugging her figure in just the right places.

And then, there came Redfox.

_Interesting__ fella he was_, Levy thought. she had seen him for the first time coming out from the animals wagon, which was weird since nobody went in there without a real good reason to, unless they were Laxus and they could handle a good beating from unwilling horses.

His pierced face and unkept ebony hair were some show on itself already, but Levy believed his red stare was his most outstanding feature (along with the rippling muscles he didn't take much effort to hide under his clothes, but Lucy didn't need to know that).

She didn't think he would notice her tonight, but then she saw him sitting by the bar, taking several glances towards her when he thought she wasn't looking, which had her chuckling into her drink.

_Interesting indeed._

**Chapter two is up, baby! Don't forget to leave a review, and fave and follow if you havent already!**


	3. Mo' Better Blues

"C'mon, is that all you've got?"

The dark beast roared and plunged forward, only to be intercepted by Gajeel's arm. The creature dropped to the ground as it's jaw was grabbed in a particular way that made his movements freeze on the spot. Gajeel immediately sat straddling its back, and as the animal regained its footing, he dug his strong fingers into the scruff on its neck, anchoring himself firmly as the sun glistened into the sweat beads that covered his bare chest.

After a few more minutes of tugging, jumping and pushing, the animal finally came to the ground with a dry thump, defeated.

"Good work today, Lily." The man grunted, getting off the black panther and drying off the sweat on his brow with the back of his wrist. Lily obediently set down, seemingly perfectly calm, and looked at his owner trough deep dark eyes as he leaned over and grabbed something from a bag on the side. Something that looked strangely like...

_Kiwi!_

Lily almost got up and tackled Gajeel to grab the fruit from his hand, but after a raised eyebrow from the man in question, he decided he would be better off staying seated at his spot for now.

"Hey Lil'" Gajeel called after a couple of minutes. Lily's ears twitched as he looked at his owner apprehensively. They both stayed immobile for a few seconds before...

"Catch!"

Lily didn't need to be told twice. He immediately charged on him as the kiwi was thrown high into the air, the giant feline jumping and catching it mid air, describing a perfect arch.

He heard Gajeel's strange laugh, but decided to ignore it, firmly believing that his human wasn't worth any time he could spend enjoying his favourite fruit.

"Okay, time to go back into the cage. Chop chop!" Gajeel called, clapping his hands twice for accentuation. Lily huffed loudly trough his nose and turned around, deciding to shamelessly ignore the beast tamer. "Oh, come on, don't give me that bullshit. You're not the only one that needs training." Seeing his partner wasn't about to budge, Gajeel retorted to more drastic measures. "Well, I guess I can give Happy all of these kiwis I have left over here. He's been givin' me hell for some more chew."

The reaction was immediate.

Within seconds, Lily was standing on his hind legs, charging up and pushing Gajeel from the back, making him fall face first on the ground.

"Oh you jealous bastard!"

He was on his feet immediately. The panther, feeling that he was in trouble, bolted away from the man, which started a chase that lasted around ten minutes.

Lily had been Gajeel's very first pet. He'd had more than he could manage, which had led him to his very first heartbreaks. He had found Lily in an alley while he was out looking for food during his short stay in Oak Town when he was a kid. Back then, he had thought the poor thing was just a normal kitten given to his size, and nine year old Gajeel didn't have it in him to leave him abandoned and all by himself. Specially since he was in the same situation, and could use a partner.

After Lily came many others, all of which he made an effort to tame and train. Although currently the circus he only had under his care seven animals (four of which weren't really his), he loved the beasts to death.

Gajeel had a pretty lonely childhood. He had never met his biological parents, and even if Metalicana was a pretty good replacement, he didn't last long either. Before he had turned eight years old, Gajeel was all by himself again. Well, at least until Lily came around. And then Barney, Sussie, Ron, two unnamed Brazilian parrots, a goat that only stayed with him for a day and a half until he had to sell her so that we wouldn't starve, Salomon, Daisy, and many others.

Carla was the last addition to his ever growing family, and he could tell she didn't quite trust him yet. That usually happened when he adopted adult animals, they were just as skeptical as human ones. The Albino tiger wouldn't follow orders unless there was some sort of treat on game, and even then, she would just half heartedly do the simplest tricks he could think of ordering her. Gajeel knew that she was probably just as intelligent as Lily, maybe more so. But she just choose not to care.

"C'mon." He urged her as he waited for her to come out of her cage so they could get started with the training. "Don't be a scrag." He spat in ultimate annoyance.

Her ears merely twitched, as she didn't even look at him.

"Who're you calling a scrag?" A voice asked.

Gajeel blinked, and for a moment, considered the possibility of the cat actually talking to him. Then he blinked again, considering the possibility that he was going bonkers ta such a young age.

"Ehem." That voice again. Now sounding slightly irritated.

_Crap_.

When he turned around, he noticed she was wearing her training clothes, more revealing than anything that could ever be seen in the streets of a regular city. But Gajeel had been living in a circus for a month, so he was used to seeing wildly indecent women walking around without a care in the world. Her hair looked unkept, probably from hanging upside down on the big tent's ropes with the other girls again, even when Polyrusica had, half heartedly at this point, scolded them millions of times for it already.

Her face demanded an answer for her previous question, not daring to allow other women to be degraded in such way, specially by a man, in front of her.

_Shrimp's got balls, gihee._

"Oi, it was just the damn cat. She won't listen to anything I tell her to do." He explained, leaning over the door frame of the door he was standing by.

"Did you try asking nicely?" Levy demanded half jokingly, walking past him (making a very very big effort not to notice his glorious chest) and into the animals wagon.

She had never been in there before, but then again, it was the first time the Cirque had a beast tamer since she had joined. Previously, the wagon was only inhabited by the three horses, which were taken care by Laxus, and occasionally, Bickslow. She remembered they had a couple giraffes a few years ago, but then one of them fell ill and the other one had to be sold off shortly after. Therefore, there was plenty of space for two cats, one elephant and one beast tamer to join the party. Happy the monkey belonged to Natsu, and therefore would follow him everywhere he went, which is why he rarely entered the animals wagon.

This space was longer than the other wagons, but Levy guessed it was only fair. After all, animals did need their space. In the ceiling, she noticed three or four windows for ventilation, which explained why the place didn't smell like a cow's butt (not that she had ever smelled one, but she guessed that was how a place that overcrowded with animals must have smelled). To her left, there was a heavy rug making the means of a curtain to what was probably Gajeel's personal living space. On the other side, she noticed cages, some of which were empty, but each one of them was spacious enough to host about two or three horses comfortably if necessary.

She noticed that the cage Gajeel had probably opened before she so rudely interrupted was currently inhabited by a large cat. No wait, it was a tiger. A white tiger, of which she had only read of in books from far off lands, was currently staring at her with her piercing blue eyes. She couldn't help but gasp.

"She's beautiful." She whispered.

"She's also incredibly stubborn and she looks at me like I repulse her. But all that aside, then yeah, she sure is." Gajeel nodded with a smirk.

"What's her name?" She asked, not looking away from the marvelous creature and ignoring Gajeel's ranting.

"Carla, but apparently she doesn't agree, since I can't get her to do anything I teach her." Gajeel huffed. He was starting to get annoyed, and he really needed to get a move on with the training, otherwise he would have to...

He didn't even wanted to think about it. Sure he'd had many exotic animals over the years, but Carla was one in a million. Not even Ella, the dwarf African elephant could do her justice. She couldn't just sell the cat, not if he could help it. But there was no use in having her trapped all day in a cage, wasting time, space and money.

When Gajeel found her, three months ago, he'd had big dreams for her. It would take a while, but he was sure that if he could get Carla to cooperate, they could get very far, very soon. Unfortunately, the feline didn't agree, and therefore, Gajeel was stuck with his usual street number which usually consisted only in Lily and very occasionally, Ella.

"Carla, dear. Come on, please. This is going to be fun, I promise you. We just need you to cooperate." Levy spoke in soft and sweet tones, leaning over forward to make her posture as unaggressive as posible.

Gajeel just rolled her eyes and turned around, walking out of the trailer and into the bright morning sun. _Keep trying all you want, Shrimp. That sweet-talkin' ain't gonna be workin'_ _anytime soon_.

He turned back around to voice his thoughts to Levy, but his mouth fell open before he could get any of his words out.

Carla was standing a few feet away from the bluenette, willingly walking towards her as she kept on taking pleasantries to the cat.

The young woman turned to him with a bright smile.

"See? A little kindness never hurt anybody." She giggled.

"Whatever you say, Shrimp."

There was a pause, and Levy realized it was getting a little... awkward, so she quickly excused herself.

"Uh, I should get going. Juvia was waiting for me around here somewhere."

"S-sure." Gajeel's stammered a little, the tip of his ears flushing a bright red. "Eh, see ya 'round, Shrimp."

"See you." She waved and left his trailer hurriedly. _Gosh, that was so awkward. I never know what to say to him. _Levy sighed. She had other things to worry about other than the tall rookie the girls believed was so 'perfect for her'. She shook her head and walked towards the inside of the big tent, where Juvia was already waiting, perched upside down from one of the trapezes.

"Juvia is glad you could make it!" The other beamed, and jumped off the seventeen feet that separated her from safe ground. "Now let's get started, Juvia has an appointment with Mister Gray for lunch today."

Levy giggled a little and went on to stretch first. Juvia wasn't much of a talker, but when it came to her adored Gray, she could rant on for hours nonstop, just taking about the softness of his hair, or the way his hands moved as he practiced picking locks for his escapist numbers.

"You know you can just call him Gray, right? You guys are friends after all."

The taller bluenette blushed a bright pink at the suggestion.

"Juvia is not comfortable speaking about her beloved in such an... informal way." She explained with a little smile.

"That's okay." Levy reassured her, climbing to one of the trapezes to start of her jumps. "I'm sure he doesn't really mind however you call him."

Juvia was glad for having Levy as a friend. People often made fun of her for her strange way of speech and her old fashioned manners. It wasn't as if she could really help it. Juvia arrived to the circus about a year before Gajeel did, so she was also relatively new. She had known little to no English when she had joined, coming from a far off land, running off from bandits who had threatened her family. So Levy, along with Lucy, took it upon themselves to teach the shy girl how to communicate with her new friends. She had come a long way since then, but she still would not let go of her third person way of referring to herself, and Levy was not about to force it out of her either.

She was also very shy. It had taken some time to get her to wear the tight clothing girls wore for their performances, so they tried to make her as comfortable as possible until she was ready to come out of her shell. Getting her to talk to Gray instead of watching him silently from the side certainly was another feat, since she had a more than obvious crush on the man, but they had become fast friends, so Levy couldn't be happier for her.

Now, Levy watched her as she jumped from rope to rope, until she finally let herself fall into the small water pool they had placed under the ground. Juvia had come a long way since they had first met, and although she still had much to learn, Levy couldn't wait to see how her journey went on from there. She smiled to herself, and nodded quietly as she descended to the ground, helping herself with one of the fabrics. She'd had her doubts in the past, but now she was certain.

Juvia had found her happiness among the faeries.

**Remember to like and review! See you on thr next chapter.**


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